"We Are Poor People...": Day After Mumbai Billboard Tragedy, Human Cost Highlighted

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has declared the billboard - a 120 X 120 foot structure reportedly in the Limca Book of Records - was "illegal", i.e., it did not give the advertising agency permission to erect that structure.

A day after the deadly collapse of a 14,400 square foot billboard in Mumbai's Ghatkopar - 14 people were killed and 74 others injured after the creaking 100-foot metal structure, buffeted by strong winds, fell on and crushed a petrol station - the human cost of the tragedy has been underlined. Family members of those who were crushed spoke to NDTV Tuesday morning, explaining how and why their loved ones were at the scene of the disaster - whether as staff at the petrol station or customers. #WATCH | Varanasi, UP: On the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse incident, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde says, " It is a painful and sad incident, I myself visited the spot yesterday. The government will bear all the expenses of the people injured in this incident. Rs 5 lakh as… pic.twitter.com/PxcNiTjb2b

"My brother, an auto driver, went to fill CNG. He was in line when the hoarding fell on him. We went but the police would not let us approach. Then they sent us to the hospital, where we had to show photos to confirm he had died," one man said.

He appealed to the state for help, saying his brother was the family's primary earner. "We are poor people... where will go, what will we do? My brother was responsible for us... he also left behind a wife and child. There should be an investigation."